Briars
by Jay With Falling Feathers
Summary: Julia Speck is twelve years old and paralyzed from the waist down. However, when she moves to a new school in Free city, she finds out her destiny is linked with the Warriors Character Briarlight. This is a Warrior cats as humans fanfiction. Read away!
1. New school

I am in front of the door to the Artemis Academy Middle School. I gulp.

I'm Julia Speck, an out-of-the-ordinary twelve year old girl. And, based on the looks of the Artemis Academy, nothing but what is considered normal will be welcome.

I wish that I'm back at Silver Lake Middle school, my old, familiar, school. But after the accident and then the move, I had to start an entirely new life. Already girls are staring at me in my wheelchair, at my thin, unmoving legs. Why must this be happpening? I just want to be home with Katy again.

I take a deep breath and enter the building, students watching me from all sides. The AA (Artemis Academy) is a serious looking school, with silver colored floors and quotes from famous people engraved on the walls. AA is an all girls school, and the boys in Free City go to the Apollo Academy.

The girls all wear matching silver uniforms and Mary Janes. I feel even more out of place in my old pink tee, baggy jeans, and worn out sneakers.

I find my locker and dial the combination (You use a keypad- fancy). My locker swings open and I start to pull the stuff out of my backpack. According to my schedule, my first class is taught by Mrs. Sands. Better not be late.

Brushing my brown hair out of my eyes, I roll my wheelchair to classroom 232, Mrs. Sands, Level 4.2b, grade 7, maximum authority level. Wow. Interesting label. I guess that means she's strict. I open the door to her classroom and find that I'm the last one there. Mrs. Sands, an old, grey-haired woman with peircing green eyes, glares at me as if I just betrayed humankind.

"Ms. Speck, why are you late?"

A couple girls giggle at my name, but most of the class stares at me with robot-like indifference, only a small amount of them betraying their curiousity.

"Um... this is my first day, so I had to put my stuff in my locker, and then I had to find your classroom in a school that's bigger than I'm used to..." I begin to explain.

"You could have come here earlier to put your ITEMS in your locker. Please sit down back there." Mrs. Sands cuts me off, pointing to an empty desk next to a tall girl with platinum blonde hair, "And I'll mark you absent. Students at Artemis Acacemy must learn responsibility. Don't let it happen again."

"I won't, Mrs. Sands," I say, forcing back tears that have been forming in my eyes at the unfairness of it. I turn my wheelchair and consider pointing out to her that I can't sit down because I'm already sitting down. But I don't, and I pull up in front of my desk. The blonde girl smiles at me, revealing perfect white teeth.

"It's okay, Mrs. Sands is always strict." She says, "I'm Chloe, by the way. What's your name?"

"Julia." I say, grateful to have somebody nice talk to me.

"Hello, Julia!" Chloe says a little too loudly and the girl in front of us gives us a nasty look with dark green eyes.

"Becoming friends with the oddball, Chloe?"

Chloe glares at her, "Julia isn't that bad, Holly. Leave us alone."

"Why should I? Okay, now I think I know why you're being so nice to this JULIA. You're so desperate for friends, you're trying to befriend someone disabled! She's probably not right in the head!" Holly hisses at her. This infuriates me, already angered at many people today. I feel my face getting warm and I clench my fists. This isn't good...

"I'm perfectly right in the head!" I shout at Holly, forgetting about the rest of the class, "I just can't walk! Leave me alone, okay?!"

There is a stunned silence in the classroom. Holly raises her dark eyebrows and snickers. She quickly turns to the assignment that the class is working on just as Mrs. Sands walks up to me.

"Excuse me, Ms. Speck, but I believe you are supposed to be working. Chloe should have shown you the assignment by now, or were you too busy talking?"

Holly giggles, which causes Mrs. Sands to turn on her.

"As for you, Ms. McDare, I doubt you haven't been caught talking in class and I also equally doubt that you have done your work SO DO IT." And with that, she stalks away from Holly, leaving the students to shudder and work on their assignments.

...

I manage to make it through second period (Tech) and third (Pre-Al. *Shudder*) and I am heading to lunch when a small sixth grade girl with wavy blonde hair and large blue eyes stops me.

"Why can't you walk?" She asks innocently, "Do you have a broken backbone?"

I start, "Why, yes. You're a smart little kid to figure that out."

She raises her eyebrows, "Oh, but I didn't. Erin Hunter did."

_Who?_

I look at her, confused. "Who's Erin..."

Just then, the lunch bell rings. I apologize and hurry to lunch. Late again!

...

At the end of the school day, I grab my bag out of my locker and swing it, with some difficulty, over the side of my wheelchair. Then I roll to the front doors. Because it took forever to stuff my huge binders into my tiny purple backpack, the hallway is mostly empty. But when I open the front doors, I'm suprised to see Holly standing in the sunny courtyard greeting a slender woman with pale brown hair and two boys who are about as tall as Holly. But that's where the resemblance ends.

The first boy looks very tough and stuck up, with golden hair and eyes. He is wearing an Apollo Academy uniform, so he must have just left school.

The second boy is kinda weird. He looks a bit cranky and keeps on snapping at Holly, but I notice that he keeps close to the woman. He has odd colored hair: Kind of black, kind of dull brown, you could almost say it was gray. He is also very pale and skinny: While his brother's Apollo uniform fits perfectly, his is baggy and unflattering. But what catches me is his eyes: The palest, brightest blue eyes I have ever seen.

**I know, odd place to stop, but I WILL UPDATE TOMMORROW!**


	2. Holly and her brothers

**Thank you, Lilacstream99, Stuffed Watermelon, and Illuminastro for reviewing! **

**The begginning of this is actually the rest of chapter one because I had to cut the first chapter short to go to bed.**

**Enjoy!**

(Chapter 1- continued)

I stay there for a second, watching this odd group as Holly hugs the strange boy, who scowls and tries to duck away from her. I notice he's holding a cane. Interesting...

Holly notices me and frowns.

"What are YOU doing here?"

"Uh... nothing?" I manage to squeak, but Holly narrows her eyes and stomps up to me. I shrink back, unsure of the cause of her sudden fury.

"You had better leave me and my family alone, you hear? Mind your own business!" Holly nearly growls to my face. The brown haired woman who must be looks up from talking to the boys.

"Holly?" She calls, "Who is this?"

Holly sighs and looks at me, "This is Julia, mother." Then she pauses, suddenly looking friendly, "Hey, Julia, wanna meet my brothers? We're triplets."

"Sure..." I say, not knowing what else to do and getting more confused by the minute at Holly's changing personalities. I wheel over to the shorter boy and hold out my hand.

"Hi, I'm Julia. Your sister Holly's in my English class. What's your name?" I ask politley.

"Jay." Jay says pointedly, not taking my hand. Talk about rude. He won't even look at me. Rolling my eyes, I turn around to see the blonde boy standing in front of me.

"Please ignore my brother. He's grumpy usually. And he's blind, which I think is the cause of his extreme grumpiness. I'm Leo." He says all in one breath, then shakes my still outstretched hand. Blind? I crane my neck to look at Jay, who has an annoyed look on his face.

"Don't talk about me as if I'm not there, Leo! I have EARS, you know!" Jay nearly hisses at his brother.

"Good thing, too." Leo jokes, "Or you'd bump into everything twice as often!"

Jay responds with a sightless stare.

Holly has an interesting family.

** ...**

** (Now on to chapter 2)**

** ...**

I roll myself down the ramp installed into my family's new car made just for me (Why does it not feel like a present?). I go across the sunbaked sidewalk, up the ramp to the front door (That ramp was also made just for me) and into the house, my mother (Millie) following close behind me.

"Bella, Bobby, I'm home!" I call, wheeling into the kitchen to see my older sister by one year, Bella, craning over the dining table. She looks up and glares at me in annoyance.

"Julia, I'm trying to do my homework! Go away and bug Bobby or something!"

Older sisters. Sheesh.

I hang up my backpack on one of the coathangers in the dining room, then wheel down the dark green hallway to face a plain yellow door. I open it to reveal my room.

It's a simple room, with a desk in one corner, a white dresser in another, and my bed with support beams around it against the right-hand wall. The walls are pale yellow, and the floore is brown hardwood. I had a fuzzy white rug in my old room, but my wheelchair wheels would eat it up so we didn't take it on the move. I try not to think about before the move too much, because of all of the memories of running, then extreme pain, then the lack of feeling in my legs...

Shaking my head, I roll inside to do Mrs. Sands' homework.

...

Holly groans over a still blank piece of notebook paper, her chin resting on her hands. Mrs. Sands' assignment seems impossible to do and Holly can't focus for some reason. She keeps on thinking about that new girl...

"Holly, can I come in?"

Holly starts as she hears Jay's voice, yawns, then says, "Sure."

The door opens and her brother walks confidentially in, pulls over a chair, and sits down.

"What is it?" Holly questions sleepily. She really doesn't have time for this. She has to get back to moaning over her work.

"Well..." Jay fiddles with his jacket sleeve.

"Spit it out." Wow, that sounded like Jay.

"It's about Julia." Jay says, suddenly looking up to stare at Holly with a sharp intensity in his blue eyes. He knows that always creeps her out. "I feel like she's important for something, but I don't know what."

"Jay, stop being weird." Holly scoffs, "Julia's just another kid."

"No, Holly." Jay says, his blind gaze still fixed on her, "She has something to do with our destinies. And she has an even important one than ours. I know it."

And with that, Jay turns his gaze away and walks out of the room, leaving Holly baffled and annoyed. Destinies? What a load of garbage!

...

"Julia?"

I groan as I hear my mom's voice waking me up. I must have slept through my alarm. AGAIN.

"I'm getting up mom!" I call, still half asleep. Grabbing the support bars, I drag myself over to my wheelchair and slide clumsily in. Then I pull out of my pjs with some difficulty (Hey, at least I can do it myself now) and awkwardly put on my new Artemis Academy uniform. Then I wheel out of my bedroom door, down the hall, and into the kitchen. Bella and Bobby are already there, eating toast.

"Where's dad? I ask once I've set my serving of plain toast on the table.

"Oh, you know your father," My mom says, collecing Bella and Bobby's dishes, "Always getting up early to go to his job."

My dad, George, works as a college professor and is always getting up at the crack of dawn (Much to Mom's annoyance) to set up his classroom for the day. *sigh*.

I nibble on my toast.

...

Hours later, I wheel out of the silver halls of the Artemis Academy. Today was no better than yesterday, though I did catch that blue-eyed sixth grader staring at me.

Quite a few people are giving me odd glances, actually, though one girl with golden hair and green eyes looks at me sympathetically as I roll my wheelchair down the sidewalk. I must look pitful. However, besides those rare few, the majority of the girls rush past me as if I don't exsist; talking with their friends, their voices a meaningless chatter to me as I stare at the hundreds of black Mary Janes clacking across the concrete, attached to moving legs. People are surrounding me, suffocating, smothering me. They all can walk. I cannot.

"Woah, watch it!"

I turn to see a girl stop herself just in time to not run into me. I realize I have stopped moving and apologize weakly, rolling out of her way. I numbly look around at the beautiful school grounds, forcing my arms to move. This is my life now.

I will never fit in.

**And... done with capter two! Oh, yeah!**

**Yes, Jay IS a real name. I know four guys named Jay. FOUR GUYS! **

**And if you can't guess what is going on, the character's names must not be obvious enough... **

**Also, the sixth grade girl with wavy blonde hair and blue eyes is me in sixth grade. How old am I now? Why do you care?**

**Whoever can guess who Chloe is will get a cookie. **

**Bye!**


	3. Dreams

**Here it is: Chapter 3!**

**I do not own Warriors.**

**And cookies to: **

**Stuffed Watermelon**

**Emberclaw**

**Illuminastro**

**I was going to name her Cindy, but then I changed it to Chloe. **

**Hope you like this chapter!**

_I am running across the street, Nike sneakers clacking on the ground. It is pitch black out and stars dot the sky. My breath is heaving, sweat making my shirt cling to my sides. An owl hoots on a tree nearby, staring at me with yellow eyes._

_In the dream, the owl is always there._

_There is a race tomorrow. I have to win. I WILL win. Losing is not an option. Just a little farther. A little farther... _

_Thunder rumbles in the sky, and rain begins to drizzle down my back. I run harder. I don't notice the cold. I am immortal, invincible, I fly over the ground like my feet have wings._

_I live for running._

_Wind begins to whip my hair across my face; I am soaking wet. The wind whispers in my ears, taunting me._

_"You can never be as fast as me."_

_But I can. My energy is endless. I am free, free as an eagle. I am one with the wind, the sky, the stars. I have no name. I have no family, no friends, nobody exists but me, and the wind, and the rain. No worries, no fear. I am truly undefeatable. _

_I run through a path in the park. Nobody is there but the owl, watching me with golden eyes. Somehow, I know it is the same owl as before. It is watching me in this eerie twillight zone, but I don't care. It is warning me, but I don't listen. _

_Then there is a mighty crack, louder than the storm, as a tree in front of me gives a mighty groan. I try to stop running, but my legs won't respond. I am going too fast. I attempt to swerve to one side._

_Too late._

_With a sickening creak, the tree comes crashing down on me._

...

I wake with a start and groan. My forehead is damp with sweat and my breath is coming in ragged gasps. It was The Dream again.

Pushing myself up on shaky arms, I look at the digital clock on my small bedside table.

3:00. Great.

I slump my head back onto my pillow, knowing I will not be able to sleep. My thoughts are too jumbled, too full of memories I've been trying to forget. The Run, The Owl, The Accident, The Move... Each traumatic event has a name. I try to label them neatly in my head and store them away in a dark corner of my brain, but they always come creeping out into my thoughts. If only they would go away. Go... away...

By some miracle, I fall into a light slumber.

...

_The first thing I remember is the cold. And then the pain. I am mortal again, just Julia, not the goddess I was on the run. A blur of faces are swimming in front of me, worried, crying, encouraging me with tired looks on their faces. I can only make out a few small details before the world goes out of focus._

_My mother's tearstained face._

_The yellow clock with a smiling hen._

_The green stethescope in a nurse's pocket._

_The one bent stem on a bouquet of roses. _

_My family is like the bouqet of roses; I am the bent stem. I'm a cripple. Useless. Weak..._

_I will never run at night again._

**Ok that's all for this chapter. This one was mainly learning about Julia's past. You'll learn more in later chapters. Also, as you can see, I've been trying to make my writing more descriptive (I edited this chapter a lot) and I hope you like it!**

**I can promise another update around Tuesday or Wednesday.**


	4. Road Trip!

** It's finally here! Chapter 4! Yeah, that's right! CHAPTER FOUR! Give me a round of applause!**

***Silence***

**Well, then...**

**I don't own Warriors.**

Though I don't realize it, the sun has risen in the sky. I'm finally sleeping deeply in bed, my dreams filled with blurry images of half-forgotten memories, when I feel someone shaking my arm. Startled, I'm jolted out of my dreams, and I squint in the dim light to see my mom standing over me.

"Good morning honey! It's the weekend!" She says cheerfully, opening my yellow curtains. I wince at the bright light that fills the room.

"Mom, what time is it?" I yawn, using one hand to sheild my face from the sun, the other to prop me up.

"Six-thirty!" Mom grins. I can almost hear dramatic music in the background.

"What?! It's Saturday!" I complain, pulling myself up and sliding into my wheelchair. Mom shifts back and forth impatiently.

"Yes, but we're all going to a museum in Roaring Falls, and you know what that means..." She pauses for emphasis, "Road trip!"

Mom does Jazz hands as I inwardly groan. Road trips in THIS family are always a disaster...

"Get dressed," she says, throwing me a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt. Then she skips off to give me some privacy, humming to herself. That woman...

I pull on my clothes, along with black Converse sneakers and a jean jacket. Then, opening a small pink jewelry box, I pull out the one peice of jewelry in it: a white bead necklace.

I've had it since I was 5. The necklace has 10 white beads on it, 3 of which have pictures painted on them. Each time something good happens to me, as in REALLY good, I paint it on a bead. If I paint all 10 beads before I graduate high school, then I had a great school experience. The first bead has a picture of the necklace: The good event was getting the "Happy Necklace" for my 5th birthday. The next one has a picture of a girl with straight reddish brown hair: My first best friend, Katy, in second grade. The third one has a bittersweet memory: a picture of a Nike sneaker. It records me winning the elementary school running championship in 5th grade. I always was a fast runner.

Sighing (I seem to do that a lot), I slip the necklace on and roll out of my room.

...

"Are we there yet?" Bobby asks YET AGAIN. (What is it with younger brothers?) The Speck family is piled in our gray minivan, on the road. We are virtually in the middle of nowhere, Mom is singing campfire songs, Dad is calling his boss, Bobby is annoying the heck out of me, Bella is on her cell phone, texting her friends, and the whole car feels like a giant oven.

Yep, your average Speck Family Road Trip.

I lean my head back, but it comes to rest against nothing. Why doesn't my wheelchair have a headrest? I should totally get one installed!

Frustrated, I blearily turn to look out of my window; acres of dry farmland stretch out in all directions. Boring...

...

"We're here!" Mom calls to the backseat. The three of us cheer.

_Finally, the long awaited words are said, _I think, opening the car door. Mom gets out and unfolds the ramp, which I roll down.

Once I'm outside, I sigh and stretch my arms, breathing in the fresh air. Then I look up at our surrounding.

_Really, Mom? Dad? This place-_

"This place stinks." Bella complains, finishing the thought. We may not like eachother, but we have an uncanny way of telling what the other is thinking. Eh, probably because we're sisters.

And Bella is right. Both literally and figuratively, Roaring Falls Art Museum stinks. The place looks dull and gray, the opposite of what an art museum should look like. The sky itself is stormy and the few people hanging around look ready to leave. Most importantly, the smell of cow manure hangs in the air. Must be because Roaring Falls is surrounded by farmland...

Bobby gets out of the car, then gags and holds his nose.

"This place smells like cow poop!" He groans, then staggers backwards dramatically, leaning against the minivan. Mom glares at him.

"Come on, Bobby, it's not that bad!" She says enthusiastically, "Think of it as a Wild Family Adventure!"

Great. Just great. Wild Family Adventures are just as bad as Speck Family Road Trips. They always end in disaster. Like that one time when we went to Las Vegas and lost 4-year-old Bobby in a casino...

I suddenly give a jolt, startling Bobby, who is ranting about the smell.

"Julia, you okay?"

I don't listen to him. I'm staring at the entrance to the Rushing Falls Art museum. A semi-familiar figure has just burst out of it, turning around to shout at someone inside.

_Could it be...?_

It's when he turns around and a catch the glint of bright blue eyes when I recognize him.

_Jay McDare!_

**And that's where I stop for now. Sorry if the chapter isn't great. I had a little bit of technical difficulties with my laptop and lost all of my documents, so I had to retype this. I had chapter 5 written, too! Grrr...**

**I'm not sure when I'll update, so please be patient.**

**Okay, that's all! Bye!**

**-Jay With Falling Feathers.**


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